Historical makeover

Improvements for Asian district are planned starting next year

The area surrounding the Chinese Historical Museum will be getting a makeover starting next year. Laura Embry / Union-Tribune

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Waterfalls and a garden lead to the Chinese Historical Museum. It originally was a Chinese Mission, built in 1927 and used until the 1960s. It was moved to its current home on Third Avenue and J Street in 1996. Laura Embry / Union-Tribune photos

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A limestone Buddha head from the Northern Qi dynasty is displayed in the Chuang Garden behind the Chinese Historical Museum.

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“Our museum has historic beauty, but in this district now, the museum is the only cultural organization in the area,” said Alexander Chuang, the executive director.

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO

San Diego's Asian historic district is moving closer to a makeover.

The district was formally created in 1987 when the city designated 22 structures as historic sites. The buildings, in the Gaslamp Quarter and Marina districts, were constructed between 1883 and 1930 and are “directly related to the Asian community and its role in the commercial, historical, architectural and cultural development of the city,” according to a recent Centre City Development Corp. report.

But not much has happened since the district was formed, and San Diego remains the largest metropolitan area in the western United States without a thriving historic Asian District, according to the report. Efforts laid out in a 1995 master plan that calls for public improvements have been languishing.

Until now.

A CCDC committee recently gave the go-ahead to draw up designs.

Improvements could include an Asian district gateway, guarding lions at the Third Avenue and J Street intersection, Chinese flame trees, Asian-style street lights, Asian brick paving, festival poles and Asian-style asphalt street paving. The Redevelopment Agency has budgeted more than $2.5 million for the project.

“The master plan is intended to create a district identity for that area that celebrates and recognizes the Asian heritage that's so prominent in the area,” said Derek Danzinger, the CCDC's director of communications.

According to city guidelines, designs should be completed by next spring, with construction beginning in June 2010.

The district encompasses a swath south of Market Street and north of J Street, between Second and Sixth avenues, an area that crosses into the Gaslamp Quarter and the Marina District. And that has raised some concerns in those areas.

“We support history and preservation and the formation of the Asian Thematic Historic District,” said Jimmy Parker, the executive director for the Gaslamp Quarter Association, the area's business group. “But we don't support taking the Gaslamp brand away. It should be alongside of the Gaslamp and not take part of the Gaslamp out.”

The Asian district's boundaries also overlap a proposed African-American district.

“The Black Historical Society wants to make sure the lights and signage will not be put into areas that will absorb the African-American District and change its look and feel,” said Karen Huff-Willis, chairwoman of the board of the Black Historical Society of San Diego.

The Chinese were the first people of Asian descent to immigrate to San Diego, and the Chinese Historical Museum downtown remains the primary repository of Chinese culture in the area. It originally was a Chinese Mission, built in 1927 and used until the 1960s. It was moved to its current home on Third Avenue and J Street in 1996.